Respiratory Tracts

Question 1

What are the names of the two respiratory tracts?

Answer 1

Upper respiratory tract

Lower respiratory tract

Question 2

What makes up the upper respiratory tract?

Answer 2

Nasal cavity, pharynx and larynx. It is located in the head and neck.

Question 3

What is the larynx?

Answer 3

Voice box

Question 4

What is the vertebral level of the larynx?

Answer 4

Continuous inferiorly with the trachea at C6.

Question 5

What makes up the lower respiratory tract?

Answer 5

Trachea, the main/principle/primary bronchi and their branches, the bronchioles and alveoli. Entirely in thorax.

Question 6

Where does the LRT get motor innervation from?

Answer 6

Sympathetic fibres originating in the upper thoracic spinal levels via pulmonary plexues.

Parasympathetic fibres from the vagus nerve.

Question 7

Where does the LRT get arterial supply from?

Answer 7

Via bronchial arteries arising from the thoracic aorta and intercostal arteries while the bronchial veins drain to the azygos venous system.

Question 8

What is the trachea?

Answer 8

Inferior continuation of the larynx at C6 through the thoracic inlet to vertebra T4 where it bifuricates into the left and right main bronchus

Question 9

What forms the tracheobronchial tree?

Answer 9

The trachea, bronchi and bronchioles

Question 10

What does the tracheobronchial tree do?

Answer 10

It is a system of airways that allow passage of air into the lungs, where gas exchange occurs.

Question 11

What is the trachea anterior to?

Answer 11

Esophagus

Question 12

Where does the trachea recieve sensory innervation from?

Answer 12

Recurrent laryngeal nerve

Question 13

What provides arterial supply to the trachea?

Answer 13

Tracheal branches of the inferior thyroid artery while venous drainage is via the brachiocephalic, azygos and accessory hemiazygos veins.

Question 14

Compare the R and L main bronchus

Answer 14

Right main bronchus – wider, shorter, and descends more vertically than its left-sided counterpart.

Question 15

Describe how the bronchi branch out

Answer 15

The main (primary) bronchi branch into lobar (secondary) bronchi.

The lobar bronchi then bifurcate into several segmental (tertiary) bronchi, each of which supplies a bronchopulmonary segment

Question 16

What are bronchopulmonary segments?

Answer 16

Bronchopulmonary segments are subdivisions of the lung lobes, and act as the functional unit of the lungs.

Question 17

Where does the bronchi derive innervation from?

Answer 17

Vagus nerve (CN X)

Question 18

Blood supply and drainage of branchi

Answer 18

Blood supply to the bronchi is from branches of the bronchial arteries, while venous drainage is into the bronchial veins.

Question 19

What do bronchioles contain and what do they not.

Answer 19

The smallest airways, bronchioles do not contain any cartilage or mucus-secreting goblet cells.

Instead, surfactant lipoprotein which prevents the walls of the small airways sticking together during expiration.

Question 20

What are alveoli?

Answer 20

Tiny air-filled pockets with thin walls (simple squamous epithelium), and are the sites of gaseous exchange in the lungs.

Question 21

What happens to conducting bronchioles?

Answer 21

Conducting bronchioles -> terminal bronchioles -> respiratory bronchioles which are distinguishable by the presence of alveoli extending from their lumens

Question 22

Name the muscle that completes the tracheal ring

Answer 22

Trachealis muscle

Question 23

What lie lateral to trachea in the neck?

Answer 23

Common carotoid arteries

Question 24

What is the nerve lying lateral to the trachea on both sides?

Answer 24

Vagus nerve

Question 25

What type of cartilage is used in the tracheobronchial tree?

Answer 25

Hyaline cartilage